Astana - architecture, myth, and destiny

“Canada’s Dan Brown” Teams Up with The ATOM Project and Hails Astana as Architectural Beacon of Peace

Renowned architectural historian and professor, Frank Albo, is partnering with The ATOM Project to raise awareness about the human and environmental devastation caused by nuclear weapons testing. In his new book, Astana: Architecture, Myth, and Destiny, Albo shares his unique perspective on the three most significant concerns of our time: religious intolerance, environmental destruction, and nuclear weapons proliferation. He finds the solution to these imminent global threats encoded in the signs and symbols of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Bring the Thunder to End the Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

On May 25, Albo will launch his book using the crowdspeaking platform, Thunderclap and will ask his fans to support The ATOM Project petition for a nuclear-weapons-free world. The Thunderclap campaign is expected to reach 500,000 people in a single day.

Rising From the Ashes

During the Cold War era, the Soviet Union conducted almost 500 nuclear weapon tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in eastern Kazakhstan, which contaminated vast areas of land and caused the radiation-inflicted illnesses of 1.5 million people. Even today, 1 in 20 children are born with severe deformities from radiation exposure in eastern regions of Kazakhstan.Within the first decade of Kazakhstan’ s independence, its President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, permanently closed the infamous test site, dismantled all Soviet weapons facilities, and renounced the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal in the world. In 2012, he launched a global campaign against nuclear testing called The ATOM (Abolish Testing. Our Mission) Project.

The Astana Challenge

Albo’s book also conceals a hidden message and the first person to decipher its exact wording will win an all-expense paid luxury vacation to Astana valued at $30,000.